Yankees’ second round pick Matt Sauer intends to sign with New York

The Yankees have not drafted a lot of high school talent to this point in the draft, but one selection is already planning to sign. New York’s second pick in the draft was right-handed pitcher Matt Sauer from Righetti High School in California, and he told KSBY that he intends to sign with the team instead of heading to college.

Sauer is committed to the University of Arizona, a school with an elite baseball program. However, it sounds as though he’d rather get his professional career started sooner rather than later. Sometimes kids with strong commitments to colleges like Arizona require lots of money in order to convince them to sign, but Sauer clearly thinks he will get a deal he wants.

The Yankees selected a number of senior pitchers in the first ten rounds that should allow them to save bonus money for guys like Sauer. Their first pick, Clarke Schmidt, should also come at a bit of a bargain because of his recovery from Tommy John.

It’s nice that the team isn’t going to have to sweat it out down to the deadline with such a high draft pick. Most players drafted in the first ten rounds do end up signing, as only two in that range failed to sign last year. Still, it’s good to hear someone like Sauer be so eager to get it done.

Sauer was ranked as the sixth best prospect in the state of California by Baseball America heading into the draft. He could have gone as high as 18th overall in the draft before ultimately landing with the Yankees in the second round. Sauer had a 0.98 ERA with 142 strikeouts for Righetti High School as a senior.

You can read our complete write-up on Sauer here.